System Protection & Studies Senior Technical Advisor

HDR; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

HDR is seeking a System Protection & Studies Senior Technical Advisor to join our Power Delivery team in Houston. The role provides senior technical leadership on system protection projects, including protective relay settings, coordination, and NERC compliance, with collaboration across project teams and clients.

You will mentor engineers, review complex protection work, and contribute to owner’s engineering activities while engaging in ongoing professional development within HDR's

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related field.
• Professional Engineer (PE) licensed or eligible for licensure.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership for system protection projects and guidance on protective relay settings and coordination.
• Perform quality checks and technical reviews per HDR Quality Management Systems.
• Assist in proposal development for system protection scopes.
• Interpret and apply client-specific requirements.
• Collaborate with clients, project teams, external consultants, contractors, and manufacturers.
• Support field personnel during relay testing and commissioning with technical input.
• Mentor and develop system protection engineers and staff.
• Attend industry conferences and stay current with power industry developments.
• Perform owner's engineering activities for system protection.

Skills

Protective relay engineering

Project leadership

Communication

Microsoft Office

Education

Professional Engineer (PE) license

Tools

AcSELerator QuickSet

GE EnerVista

ASPEN OneLiner

Advanced Protection Assessment (APA)

ETAP

PLS CAD

AutoCAD

Plant 3D

AutoPipe

Revit

Microsoft Office

Job description

At HDR, our employee-owners are fully engaged in creating a welcoming environment where each of us is valued and respected, a place where everyone is empowered to bring their authentic selves and novel ideas to work every day. As we work to weave diversity, equity, and inclusion into our work and foster a sense of belonging throughout the company and within our communities, we constantly ask ourselves: What is our impact on the world?

Watch Our Story: https://www.hdrinc.com/our-story

Each and every role throughout our organization makes a difference in our ability to change the world for the better. Read further to learn how you could help make great things possible not only in your community, but around the world.

HDR Engineering is currently seeking a System Protection & Studies Senior Technical Advisor to join our growing and nationally ranked team of Power Delivery professionals.

Primary Responsibilities

The System Protection & Studies Senior Technical Advisor will provide senior-level technical leadership, quality oversight, and strategic guidance for system protection engineering projects. This role will support the development of protective relay settings, compliance with NERC reliability standards, scope development, and quality reviews for complex power delivery projects.

The successful candidate will partner closely with leadership, project managers, and execution teams. Project managers will remain responsible for scope, schedule, budget, and client management, while the System Protection & Studies Senior Technical Advisor will be responsible for technical quality reviews, technical guidance, and successful execution of the system protection components of projects.

Specific duties include

• Provide technical leadership, guidance, and solutions for system protection engineering projects of varying complexity including protective relay setting development, relay coordination, protection logic, NERC Reliability Standard compliance, arc flash studies, and related documentation
• Coordinate and/or perform quality checks and technical reviews of project deliverables in accordance with HDR Quality Management Systems requirements, processes, and procedures
• Support proposal development for system protection scopes
• Interpret and apply client-specific requirements
• Collaborate with clients, internal project teams, external consultants, contractors, and manufacturers to resolve technical issues
• Provide assistance to field personnel during relay testing and commissioning, including answering technical questions and reviewing test results
• Mentor, train, and provide technical development support to system protection engineers and other power delivery staff
• Participate in industry conferences, seminars, and other professional development activities to stay current with technical developments in the power industry
• Perform owner's engineering activities specific to system protection

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering
• 15 or more years of experience in system protection engineering
• Strong demonstrated knowledge of protective relay engineering principles and practices
• Experience with protective relay setting development for transmission lines, transformers, buses, capacitor banks, reactors, distribution feeders, and more
• Knowledge of applicable industry practices and standards from IEEE, relay manufacturers, and others
• Experience with industry-standard protection and power system analysis software such as AcSELerator QuickSet, GE EnerVista, ASPEN OneLiner, Advanced Protection Assessment (APA, formerly CAPE), ETAP, etc.
• Experience with protection hardware and relay platforms such as SEL, GE, Siemens, ABB, Beckwith, and RTDS
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, organizational skills, problem-solving ability, and ability to collaborate across diverse project teams

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering
• A minimum of 10 years of experience
• Requires professional engineering license recognized by the licensing board for the location of the position offered. Example: Professional Engineer (PE or P.Eng) license.
• Extensive experience in project execution within the Power Market Sector
• Proficient computer skills in Microsoft Office as well as standard Power Market Sector design software (examples include PLS CAD, AutoCAD, Plant 3D, AutoPipe, and Revit)
• An attitude and commitment to being an active participant of our employee-owned culture

What We Believe

HDR is our company. Together, we build on each other's life experiences and perspectives to make great things possible every day. This shapes our collaborative culture, encourages organizational trust and connects us closer to the clients and communities we serve.

Our Commitment

As employee owners, we all have a role in creating an inclusive environment where each of us is welcomed, valued, respected and empowered to bring our authentic selves to work every day.

Our eight Employee Network Groups (Asian Pacific, Black, Hispanic/Latino(a), LGBTQ+, People with Disabilities, Veterans, Women, Young Professionals) help create a sense of belonging and foster a supportive environment where everyone is empowered to engage and contribute. Each group has an executive sponsor and is open to all employees.

Primary Location: United States-Texas-Houston Industry: Power Schedule: Full-time Employee Status: Regular BusinessClass: System Protection and Planning Job Posting: Aug 19, 2026

At HDR, we are committed to the principles of employment equity. We are an Affidantive Action and Equal Opportunity Employer (https://www.hdrinc.com/equal-employment-opportunity-employer). We consider all qualified applicants, regardless of criminal histories, arrest and conviction records.